Institutional compromises

September 10, 2024

NEW DELHI – The outpouring of public angst, protests, and frustrations against the horrific rape and murder case in Kolkata is sadly following a trend that has been seen repeatedly, but one without a course-correction for posterity. Political classes across the board jump in and sully the narrative to gain a political finger-pointing opportunity and poison the mood against one another, but the underlying situation remains as grim as ever. Over time demonstrators convene under various partisan flags to suggest the laxity or complicity of the ‘other’ in order to indulge in political one-upmanship.

Usually the side with the situational ‘monopoly-on-truth’ triumphs in the blame game, and then the issue is milked towards building partisanship. Even worse follows, as gradually the issue is forgotten as some other headline grips public attention and consumes public passion ~ till some other tragedy repeats itself. Why aren’t lessons learnt? Why isn’t the ‘system’ improved to ensure safety and security for all? Why do some institutions/bodies attempt covering up instead of acknowledging concerns and failures? Why isn’t anybody held accountable, ever?

It is disconcerting to note that the answers to such basic questions are rarely answered in all honestly, and it is especially strange as such incidents have the entirety of society, government and even the opposition parties supposedly on the same side ~ yet, beyond platitudes and multiple protests, the fundamental situation remains as is. Perhaps the closest that any stakeholder has come to zeroing down to the epicenter of failure fault lines in this case was when the Supreme Court noted that the incident had, “shocked the conscience of the nation” and